In September 2025, Le Temps included Mehra Rimer in its annual selection of the 100 most influential people in French-speaking Switzerland, recognizing her sustained commitment to Palestinian and Israeli grassroots initiatives working for dignity, equality, and self-determination.
Mehra later joined the other honorees at a ceremony in Lausanne. While the recognition was personal, its significance extended far beyond one individual. It offered an opportunity to bring greater public visibility to an entire community of Palestinians and Israelis whose courage and persistence too often remain absent from mainstream accounts of the conflict.
For B8 of Hope, this is why such moments matter. Every time the work of peacebuilders enters the public conversation, it challenges the assumption that only extremists, politicians, and armed actors shape the future. It reminds a wider audience that another community exists—and that its members are working every day to make hope tangible.
At Institut Le Rosey, bereaved Israeli and Palestinian fathers Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin shared how they chose reconciliation over revenge—and invited students to consider what peace demands of us.
French filmmaker and activist Hanna Assouline joined Year 13 students at the International School of Geneva for a screening and an honest conversation about peace, dialogue, and refusing to surrender to division.
At the Geneva Graduate Institute and the University of Lausanne, B8 of Hope introduced students to the work of our Palestinian and Israeli grantees, our pro-solution approach, and the role of trust-based philanthropy in sustaining peacebuilding.